Secrets in the Darkness
by Unobtainable Truth
Summary: Hundreds of years after the most powerful ninja village ever disappeared from existence the cause is still a mystery. Now the leaf ninja will finally get a chance to solve it, and the answer may change the ninja world forever.


**Secrets in the Darkness**

**Ch.1?**

**I do not own the show naruto any of its characters or any sort of properties for the show. Thank you **

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The ancient ones tell stories of that day

Their aged voices brought to whisper

Trying not to tempt the fates

Telling the story from their youth

The day the sky went black

They say that on that day the world joined in mourning

That day the earth did tremble and crack

That day the seas did rise and consume the coast

That day the wind howled and chilled the soul

That day the moon ran red in fury

That day the skies wept and washed the sin away

On that day the land of darkness went silent.

"_Iruka sensai, what does any of this boring crap have to do with being a ninja?" _The speaker, a very bored mildly retarded looking blond child, asked his teacher.

His teacher Iruka, an average sized man with a scar across his nose and light brown hair, did not look very happy at being interrupted by the inattentive blond. "_Naruto! Don't interrupt me when I'm teaching or you'll never become a ninja!" _

The blonde instantly tried to calm the annoyed teacher. "_Jeez Iruka sensai, calm down or that veins gonna pop. All I want to know is what this has to do with being a ninja."_

Iruka sighed at the young ninja trainee's ignorance. "_Naruto, this has EVERYTHING to do with being a ninja. This is ninja history; learn from the mistakes made in the past so you can avoid them in the future. Now then, since you just felt the need to interrupt, tell me everything you know about the land of darkness."_

Naruto's bored look instantly switched to one of nervous ignorance. "_Ugh… It was dark…aand it disappeared a long time ago." _

Iruka sighed at the boy. _"Naruto, I'd be disappointed if that hadn't been exactly what I expected you to say." _A few giggles went around the class and a few outright laughs as the students enjoyed the sulking blonde's plight. "_Now the Land of Darkness is a very important subject in ninja history. Its story begins 1200 years ago, long before the great shift shaped the elemental continent into what it is, when the first people came to this continent. 1200 years ago there was a mass genocide in the Maccen lands when a religious group named the Order of the Virtuous Sun took to killing off anyone who wouldn't convert._

_The survivors were pushed east as the orders numbers expanded and spread throughout the lands, eventually being pushed to the coast. A small group of about 400 took refuge in a tunnel leading deep under ground for months before being discovered by the order whose armies had spied people bringing supplies to the tunnel. A regiment of six hundred entered the tunnel slaughtering everyone they came across and forcing the refugees deeper into the tunnel. _

_After two days of running non stop, the one-hundred and sixty remaining refugees found themselves inside a colossal cavern. The walls and ceiling of the cavern were packed with precious gems of every kind causing the room to sparkles like the night sky with even the smallest torchlight. In fear of their pursuers the group journeyed deeper into the cave, eventually coming across a great spirit who had made its home in the cave. The spirit questioned the group as for their reason on intruding in its territory. Fearing the beast's wrath the group selected a young woman named Liana to be there representative and explain their situation to the Great Spirit. After telling the story, Liana pleaded with the spirit to protect the group from their attackers and in return the people would honor the spirit with ceremonies and offerings. Taking pity on the group, the spirit agreed to offer them sanctuary and take care of their enemies. When the order made it to the cavern the great spirit struck, slaughtering the order and devouring them en masse. The battle was over in mere moments, the order having been completely decimated with only a handful escaping back through the tunnel. _

_The group was in awe of the spirits power and brutality. After the spirit had devoured the last of the order, the survivors bowed to it in grateful worship. After a ceremony to thank the spirit for its incredible mercy, the spirit offered the group the cave to use as their home and its protection to those that lived there. The spirited said that those who wished to continue on through the cave would find daylight after another few hours walk through the tunnel. _

_The group decided to split, with half staying in the cavern to set up a home and the rest proceeding through the tunnel and establishing crops and a settlement on the land outside. After a few years a village had been built in the cavern and another at the tunnels end. The two villages prospered with the outside village trading food and materials for the raw metals and gems mined from the cave as they carved their homes into the rock. The two villages came together for ceremonies and celebrations in honor of the spirits generosity. Over time the people of the villages were looked on with adoration from the great spirit and were favored by it. The spirit bestowed gifts upon the villagers teaching them seals and the secrets of chackra manipulation, as well as bestowing blessings of his power and protection on the newly born children. These children possessed a higher chackra capacity and thicker and more powerful chackra, allowing them to learn more from the spirit and in turn making them stronger. These children were the first true ninja, using hand seals to access and control their more powerful chackra. _

_Over the next hundred years the villages grew into a magnificent kingdom that spread from throughout the cavern that had been named the Eternal Star Village through the tunnel to the village on the outside, which was named the Guardian Village of Yesca. Each generation grew stronger and received more powerful blessings from the spirit, including some powerful abilities that were passed down to their offspring. These abilities were termed bloodline limits, and were valued and cherished by the people. _

_Eventually large groups left the villages to find new homes in the area outside of the tunnel. Each group established its own village and would transfer goods between their village and the tunnel villages. Each village would also return for ceremonies and celebrations to honor the spirit, which they had named the Father Spirit, as well as bring their newly born children back to receive the Father Spirit's blessing. The land encompassing all the villages, the coastline and the tunnels was deemed the Land of Darkness and the whole of the land deemed the Elemental Continent. _

_For around eight-hundred years the descendents of the villages prospered and spread deeper into the elemental continent creating new lands and villages. Each village revered the Father Spirit and brought offerings back to the Eternal Star village to show their gratitude for the blessing the spirit had given them. The people were happy and safe, free of any care of harm or danger, and made incredible advances to chackra and sealing techniques including creating summoning techniques to bring lesser spirits to serve them in what they needed. The village was considered to be unconquerable and it was believed that it would stand proud forever. Around three-hundred years ago everything changed._

_One day the Father Spirit, savior of the people, vanished suddenly from the Eternal Star village. Without the spirit to guide them the people were lost, their good fortune had seemingly ended. A few people believed that without the spirit's guidance they would have to rely on themselves and move forward. Under the lead of the Star village the surrounding villages continued to prosper and grow even without the spirits blessing and everything was looking up for the favored children of the Father Spirit._

_A few years later tragedy struck in the form of the great cataclysm. In less than a moment the entire Land of Darkness had been consumed in a great release of energy, which is believed to have destroyed the villages. In reaction to this great release of energy the Great Shift occurred, which caused the seas to rise and the earth to shift burying the tunnels and surrounding coast under the ocean. The poem I read you earlier was written almost one hundred years after the shift and was an account of the events that occurred that day from the few old enough to remember it. The villages that survived the shift mourned, without the Father Spirit or the Star Village to guide them they were truly lost. _

_Chaos ensued in the time that fallowed as each village strived to take control of the others, believing they were the most worthy of leading after the fall of the Land of Darkness, and formed nations by combining with nearby villages. After eighty years violence broke out between the nations, some establishing treaties and alliances with others to put themselves in a stronger position. Villages took to assassinations and murder in attempts to gain the upper hand over others, and after another ninety years this lead to what is now known as the First Great Shinobi War. The war lasted for nearly forty years with none of the nations gaining an advantage over the others, before finally, a treaty was signed and the war ended. It was around this time that the village of Konoha was created and our history begins here. So you see Naruto, this has everything to do with being a ninja, because without the village and the spirit that protected it there wouldn't be any ninja." _

The class sat in attention as they listened fascinated to their teacher's story, especially the young blonde Naruto. "_Wow sensai, that's a crazy story!"_

Another student in the class, a young boy with a small white puppy napping on his head, raised his hand. "_Yes Mr. Inuzuka." _

"_Iruka sensai, what caused the great cataclysm?" _

"_That's a very good question Kiba. To be honest nobody really knows what happened, anyone who was there perished in the giant release of energy so we may never know what took place in the village, but still there's always a chance that we'll found out. Who knows maybe one of you will discover the cause, and then I can brag that my student solved a three hundred year old mystery."_ Chuckling a bit at the thought Iruka looked up at the clock. "_That's all for today class, remember to work on drawing your chackra during meditation and I'll see you all on Monday." _And with that the class was dismissed with a cheer and a stampede of children.

Unbeknownst to anyone in the class, they would all get the opportunity to find out what had really happened in the Land of Darkness much sooner than anyone could ever have imagined.

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Well this is the first thing I have written since my computer crashed and erased everything I had done for my other two stories so I may be a bit rusty so tell me what you think. I can take criticism pretty easily so don't be afraid to make harsh judgments because without knowing our faults a writer can't improve. Sorry about not writing in so long, I lost the next three chapters of Ninja Revelations and the next two from Heir to Excellence and that killed me since those were my only copies and rewriting them from memory did not seem like a lot of fun. I am going to write more for them soon though, and I know I should have focused on my previous stories before starting something new, but when inspiration strikes you know? Again sorry for all this and I hope to hear what you think of this

Always one to please the masses

Your lord and master

-UT


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